Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis pres James Bullard said a
decline in joblessness below the natural rate may force policy makers to
raise rates faster in the future. “We’re in reasonably good
shape” with regard to monetary policy but “the odds that we will fall
somewhat behind the curve have increased modestly,” Bullard, said. “We are going to get some overshooting here in the relatively
near term” on the non-accelerating inflation rate of unemployment “that
might cause the committee to have to raise rates more rapidly later
on.” Last week Fed officials halved projections for how many times it would
hike this year from 4 times in Dec after volatility in financial
markets & weakening global growth clouded the US economic outlook & they lowered the forecasts for longer-run unemployment to 4.8%. Bullard sees
joblessness falling to 4.5% this year. The rate held at an 8-year low of 4.9% last month. PCE inflation, the Fed
preferred gauge, as well as core PCE, the rate that excludes volatile
components such as food & energy, will be over 2% in 2017, he
said. Bullard
said he’s getting “increasingly concerned” about giving forward
guidance thru projections of how fast interest rates will rise, also
referred to as the dot plot. The forecasts probably contributed to the
market sell-off at the start of the year, & “I’ve even thought about
dropping out unilaterally from the whole exercise,” he added. Negative
interest rates are not a “very likely option” for the Fed in case more
stimulus will be needed in the future, Bullard said.

Nike, a Dow stock, fell after its annual forecast missed estimates,
raising concerns about growth. Sales will increase by a high-single-digit percentage
during the next fiscal year, the company said. Analysts had projected a rate of about 10%. Earnings will rise in the low teens, NKE said, compared with an
estimate for growth of about 15%.

Revenue missed estimates in fiscal Q3, hurt by currency headwinds. Sales rose 7.7% to $8.03B & analysts
estimated $8.2B. Excluding currency shifts, sales would have
gained 14%. Futures orders in emerging markets, an indicator of sales in those economies, were up 14%,
excluding currency effects. Analysts had estimated 16.1%. Even
as sales grew more slowly than predicted, profit beat
estimates. EPS climbed to 55¢, helped
by a lower tax rate from more earnings coming outside the US, where
levies are lower. Analysts predicted 49¢. The results marked the 15th straight
qtr that NKE has beaten profit projections. In North America, futures orders rose 10%,
excluding currency effects & analysts estimated 11.6%. The company
said it's making "good progress" on reducing excess inventory in the
region by selling items through its outlet stores & other discount
chains. They grew 17% worldwide by that measure, exceeding a projection of 16.1%. The stock sank 2.77. If you would like to learn more about NKE, click on this link:club.ino.com/trend/analysis/stock/NKE?a_aid=CD3289&a_bid=6ae5b6f7

Nike (NKE)

Ford said it could still earn a profit even if
industry sales plunged 30% in one year. “We were in such
bad shape back then,” CFO Bob Shanks said. “We are a much different company now.”

Ford
could now break even financially if annual US auto sales fell to 11M, a 37% decline from last year's record 17.5M cars & light trucks. If sales didn't rebound the next year, profit would actually improve. In such a market
collapse, Ford could cut its costs $3B in the first year, with
$1B coming from its manufacturing operations. “We would adjust production to fit demand and do that very, very quickly,” Shanks said. As
evidence of how Ford is more nimble now, Shanks pointed to the moves
the company has made to adjust factory output to a decline in demand for
fuel-efficient small cars. Ford plans to maintain its div,
keep the investment-grade credit rating & continue to invest in new
models in the next downturn. The company was helped by
recent credit upgrades, which “gives us a little bit of extra cushion,”
Shanks said. The stock slid back a dime. If you would like to learn more about Ford, click on this link:club.ino.com/trend/analysis/stock/F?a_aid=CD3289&a_bid=6ae5b6f7

Ford (F)

Stocks are digesting the recent major advance. The terrorist attack in Brussels is not bringing on selling. In fact, gold fell sharply today. Q1 is winding down with little excitement in the stock market. Dow remains in the black YTD